Pivot Points

Floor-trader pivots turn yesterday's range into today's reference grid. The central pivot is the average of the prior high, low, and close. R1 and S1 are the first resistance and support. Further levels step out by the prior range. They are arithmetic, so two traders with the same data get the same prices. That is their value. They are not a forecast.

The session you use matters. Equity cash pivots often use the cash session. Futures pivots may use the full electronic session or the pit session, and the levels will differ. Intraday traders also compute weekly and monthly pivots from the prior week or month.

Price opening above the pivot is a mild intraday bullish bias in this method. Price opening below it is a mild bearish bias. R1 and S1 are places to expect a reaction, to take partial profits, or to define a break if they go. They work as a shared map, not as magic numbers.

Treating R3 as a target the market must reach, and mixing cash-session pivots with futures prices without checking the source of the high and low.

On a trend day the market walks through S1 and R1 and never looks back. Pivots are range tools first. They do not adapt to a day that has left yesterday's range behind.